Summer 2016: On Your Doorstep Now

The Summer issue of Foreword Reviews is just now reaching subscribers and newsstands, no doubt causing a few double takes as readers eye the creepy she-skeleton gently holding a tatted-up newborn on the cover. We discovered that startling image in 100 Years of Tattoos, a very cool project by Lawrence King Publishing, and one that earned a glowing shout-out from our editorial team in the Gift Ideas section of the mag.

The final Summer tally finds reviews and coverage of 154 books from 145 different independent publishers and university presses. As part of our company mission to cover as many publishers as possible, the vast majority of those 145 publishers didn’t receive a review in our Spring issue. You see, by maintaining a steady rotation, we’re able to write about exemplary books from an ever growing contingent of hundreds of serious-minded indies, all of which send us review copies of their soon-to-be-released books. As a rule, Foreword only reviews books we can recommend to our readership—just great books.

The newly released issue includes features stories on History books and Cookbooks, Debut Fiction, Translation, and the broad genre of Family & Relationships. Some of the notable publishers earning reviews in those Foresight features includes Skyhorse Publishing, AMACOM, Quirk Books, Storey Publishing, Andrews McMeel, Pelican Publishing Company, BenBella, Bethany House, Gallic Books, and Open Letter Books, as well as several university presses like University of Notre Dame Press, Princeton University Press, Johns Hopkins University Press, Harvard University Press, University of Nebraska Press, Northern Illinois University Press, and The American University of Cairo Press.

Nine months ago we introduced recurring Spotlight features on Climate Change books, Graphic Novels, Poetry, and Young Adult. Seven Stories Press, Zest Publishing, Tuttle Publishing, Patagonia Books, Titan Comics, NBM Publishing, Copper Canyon Press, Fordham University Press, Quinnipiac University Press, University of Iowa Press, Rutgers University Press, and a dozen or so other indie publishers had a book reviewed in those Spotlights.

At Foreword, we’re fiercely committed to covering the best new collections of Poetry and works of Translation, two genres that are mostly overlooked by other review journals. We’re also striving to draw attention to important issues like Climate Change, and will soon introduce another Spotlight on the topic of healing social divisions/fractured society.

All other fiction and nonfiction genres, aside from the 16 Children’s Picture Books we reviewed, got covered in the back of the magazine in our review section. Here’s a partial rundown of some of our favorite publishers earning Summer reviews back there: Red Hen Press, Sounds True Publishing, New World Library, Sarabande Books, City Lights Books, Akashic Books, Haymarket Publishing, Lee & Low Books, Cinco Puntos, Bear & Company, Polity Books, Hawthorne Books, Berrett-Koehler, University of Oklahoma Press, University of Washington Press, University of Texas Press, University of Texas Press, West Virginia University Press, Wayne State University Press, University of Georgia Press, University of Pennsylvania Press, and Georgetown University Press.

So, thank you to all those indies publishing stellar books, and thank you to our readership of librarians, booksellers, and general readers for honoring us with you loyal attention.